“We’ve been chasing the game the whole series by not scoring first”, Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said after Game 4.
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Thornton has had a stellar regular-season career since the Boston Bruins made him the No. 1 draft pick in 1997, and he has a well-earned reputation as one of the best passers in the game.
If a series comeback from 3-1 down against the Pittsburgh Penguins is so impossible, why has it happened twice in the past five years? A few things we won’t tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING. When Kessel’s No. 81 appears on the ice at Consol Energy Center on Thursday night to face the San Jose Sharks in Game 5 of the final, he’ll try his best to soak in – but not get lost in – a moment he was never quite sure would come during those challenging seasons with the Maple Leafs. “He was only the best player Toronto had for (six) years, year in and year out and he got the blame for everything, which was terribly unfair”.
“When he needs to he can call you out and tell you that he wants more from you”, Murray said.
It’s safe to say that the stars for both teams have been relatively quiet in the finals, with the Penguins depth players being the difference in the series to this point. The Penguins have won three previous Stanley Cups.
The fact that the Penguins have raced out to a 3-1 series lead over the San Jose Sharks without a single goal from their superstar captain is a testament to their depth.
There is no magic button, even if the correlation between Mike Sullivan’s deft attempts to a get player’s attention and that player nearly immediately elevating his game is unmistakable.
First, Pittsburgh has had numerous players step up in the postseason, and have carried this team in the postseason.
Sullivan pulled struggling defenseman Olli Maatta in the second round against Washington, yet stressed to the 21-year-old Maatta he would eventually get another chance, one that arrived when Trevor Daley went down with an ankle injury. Kessel and the rest of the guys in black-and-gold are not getting ahead of themselves even as tickets prices on the secondary market soared into the thousands while police are girding for what’s sure to be a rowdy celebration. The Penguins blocked 38 shots in Game 3.
“I think early in the series, we were just giving them a little bit too much room”, DeBoer said of his team, which gave up 20 shots on goal in Game Four, less than half the total of Game Three.
The Sharks were loose in practice Wednesday. “Ultimately it just falls on all of us to come out with our best game”.
“We’ve earned an opportunity, and that’s it”, Pittsburgh forward Matt Cullen said. They got shut out in Game 7. “We’ve won games all year, and that’s the plan (Thursday)”. “We’ve been able to get the big goal when we needed it”.
With their backs placed squarely against the wall, the Sharks travel to the Steel City as +130 underdogs in Game 5, and have tumbled to a distant +700 on the National Hockey League series prices. “I don’t know how it would change their game”. I mean, that’s just what these guys do at this level.
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